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Chapter Twenty-Eight
It was finally Wednesday,and Lucy decided it was time to celebrate. She was off of bed rest as of her early afternoon doctor’s appointment, one she hadn’t told Leo about. She had wanted to surprise him that night, and she had a favor to cash in. And she didn’t want it to be some afternoon quickie.
So, Lucy had demanded that Agatha bring over some things that she needed to actually make her new family a meal, not wanting to rely on Harper for them to eat. Today, the four girls would all be there at the same time since she had moved in. Moved in? Had she really done that?
Since the two little ones were there, she was going to make something simple: hamburgers and homemade French fries. Emma and Violet always liked it when she made it for them, so it should go over well with these four.
Adding to that a milkshake that was always a favorite of all her sisters. Except because of Amelia’s allergies she had Agatha grab some nondairy milk when she was getting her ingredients. The secret ingredient in them was instead of ice-cream she was going to use frozen bananas. It was something she had saw on TV a few years before and she knew she could make it all work together.
Mixing the ingredients, she listened to her latest audiobook through her headphones. The book was about having twins—yes, there was an entire book about it. Some of the stuff they said was just weird, but some made her think about her and Mabel and why they were similar and so different at the same time.
Tomorrow she was back to work. After a week off, she had no idea how she was going to get back into the rhythm of working with Leo and his office staff. Though she knew it would only take a few hours to get it figured out, she just felt the task was daunting. To her surprise, Agatha had told her she could send her pictures of documents, and she would read them to her, which would make getting his calendar back in her head easier.
Preparing the meal had taken her longer than she thought it would since she didn’t know where everything was, and some stuff she wanted to use he didn’t have. While improvising with other items, she made a mental list of what she would need to buy.
Amelia and Addison were the first to get home, followed soon by Aubrey, who had picked up Alexis on her way past the high school. Lucy had been surprised that Aubrey still lived at home and not on campus, but the two older girls seemed to be close, and they even tried to be close with the young two.
Within minutes of getting home, everyone had scattered and left Lucy in the kitchen to make supper. By the time Leo arrived home, she had the meal almost ready. “Do I have time to change?”
“Yes, but hurry and bring the kids back with you.” She was finally getting used to the idea of all the kids.
“I will. I’m excited to eat something you made.” He kissed her lips, but she didn’t touch him because her hands were dirty.
“It’s nothing fancy,” she replied, hoping he wouldn’t be disappointed.
He smiled on his way out of the kitchen. “It looks like you worked hard on it.”
“It’s something I make a lot for Emma and Violet. Nothing new,” she said as she added two types of cheese to the top of each hamburger patty.
“I’ll be right back.”
Watching him go, she liked the feeling of them together as a family with the girls. It was what she couldn’t have hoped for when she had said yes to his proposal. Not in a million years did she think she would be here, happy.
After many trips with the food, including three with just the milkshakes she had everything on the table. After much experimenting she was pleased with how the food turned out. She had to admit they were better than she had expected when she had started them. Pleased with herself and her cooking, she smiled at the food spread out on the table and hoped she wouldn’t have to start another food fight with the kids. Because today, she was hoping there would be no complaining about what was being served.
Realizing she forgot one more thing she then went back to the kitchen for the beans she’d added to the meal to resemble something healthy. After all, she wasn’t feeding her sisters, these were going to be her kids. Smiling, she saw that all the kids were present and no one was complaining about the food.
“This looks really good, Lucy,” Leo said, dishing up a plate for Addison.
“I just hope everyone likes it.” She sat down next to him. It seemed it was now her spot at the table. She liked being near him.
“Can I drink this, Daddy?” Amelia asked, glass in hand looking into the milkshake in wonder.
Before her dad could say no Lucy jumped in, smiling, “Yes, Amelia, I made it special for you. No milk in it.”
“Just for me? Thank you, Amelia” The little girl was smiling as she started sipping from the straw.
She smiled at Amelia, realizing that this might be her first milkshake ever. Amelia had gone her entire life not enjoying something as ordinary as a milkshake because of her allergies. Lucy swore she would find ways around her allergy as much as possible so she didn’t miss out on other ordinary things.
“Did you buy these?” Aubrey asked, looking at her milkshake way more skeptically than Amelia had.
Lucy turned to her. “No, I made them.”
Suddenly, Aubrey dropped the glass causing it to crash to the table, as she shrieked, “Oh, no!”
Lucy followed her eyes to see Amelia grabbing at her throat, and Leo instantly raced around the table to her. Picking up the girl, he shouted, “Aubrey, get the meds!”
But Aubrey was already on her feet, as was Alexis, and both were out of the room before he’d finished the sentence. Lucy was completely lost as to what was even happening and frozen with fear at what she was seeing.
